Toddler will only poo standing up!

[Reiko_ctu]

So we've been potty training for 4 days now, I know that's not long and there's lots of adjusting to do still for dd. She's 2.5.

She is rocking the pee. Tells me every time and no accidents since the first day. I think because she's a bit older she can hold it really well etc.

But POOPING. I know I shouldn't expect her to get it right away. But she can't poop sitting down! She has pooped in her diaper standing up always (well since she could stand obviously). She goes to our coffee table, leans on it, on her tippy toes and poos. She always tells me "I'm doing a poo" but when I rush her to the toilet she will only poo into the potty what is already on it's way out. If there's more she holds it or can't get it out.

Right now we're sitting on the potty, eating mandarin oranges and raisins and watching paw patrol to get her to try and poop. It's been 30 mins already and no poo. She already had a holding incident this morning so I know there's some in there to come out. I'm thinking this might be what we have to do for a while until she figures out how to make her body poo sitting down. She does have a stool to rest her feet on.

Anyone have any ideas?

Ps. she is not constipated at all and when her potty has caught the poo she's been very excited. She's not afraid of it she just can't actually figure out how to make her body do it.

 

[NickyKB]

we had this with my DS (but he was also intentionally holding as he didn't want to go on a potty). We ended up getting him to blow into a balloon whilst he was sitting on a potty as it uses the same muscles - had to teach him how to blow into a balloon first as well but it did seem to help.

 

[seoj]

Have you tried having her sit on the potty in her pull-up? We had to do that with our LO eventually- she was 3.5 when we really started to encourage potty training more though, she just had NO interest till then (no matter what lol)-- but poo was the toughy... she would sit and say "I can't- or - I don't know how". So I would put her in panties, she'd tell me she had to go, and we'd put her in a pullup, then sit ON the potty to go- then take it off, clean up and back in panties.

Just a thought She'll get there regardless though. WE went from sitting on the potty in the pullup, to sitting ON the pullup (drapping it over the potty chair) to eventually no pullup...

 

[MindUtopia]

My daughter is exactly the same. Just keep trying, sit next to her in a chair, have a snack, read books, do other activities, etc. I also found just being really reassuring when it came time for her to go helped, I'd encourage her to take deep breaths with me, let her squeeze my hand hard if she needs to, tell her it was okay, remind her she'd feel a lot better after. That's helped a lot. Oddly, the thing that's helped the most is she realised that it's pretty funny when poo plops out into the toilet and she likes to watch it! It's really gross, but it's helped her get over her anxiety about going in the toilet. She has always found doing a poo uncomfortable/painful (even though her poos are soft and she's not constipated). It's been like that since she was a baby. Even in a nappy, it's a bit of an ordeal. She definitely does hold it and won't go in public or at nursery. I've just tried to be encouraging, keep trying (if she won't go, then we take a break and try again later when she shows signs), distract her and try to make it funny when it does happen. It's helped and it's getting easier. She's been potty trained for about 2 months now.

 

[MrsPear]

We didn't crack pooing until several weeks after weeing. I decided to just totally relax about it and give her the nappy back when she needed a poo. Sure enough after a few weeks, she just "got it". X

 

[Wilsey]

My son still asks for a nappy to do his poos. When he asks I just offer the toilet or nappy and he always chooses nappy. To be honest, it's easier for me at the moment so I don't fight him on it. And, I really don't want him to get anxiety around it and get constipated!